A reflective liquid crystal device utilizing external light for display without using a light source such as a back light is conventionally advantageous from the viewpoint of reduction in power consumption, reduction in size and weight, or the like, and is thus used for portable electronic apparatuses, in which particularly, portability is regarded as important, such as a portable telephone, a wristwatch, an electronic notebook, a notebook-size personal computer, etc. A conventional reflective liquid crystal device comprises a liquid crystal held between a pair of substrates, and a reflector provided on the back of a liquid crystal panel, for reflecting external light incident on the surface side through the liquid crystal panel, a polarizer, etc. However, in this liquid crystal device, parallax occurs in a display image due to the long optical path from the liquid crystal separated by the substrates or the like to the reflector, thereby causing double exposure. In a color display, color lights are mixed by the long optical path to cause difficulties in displaying a high-quality image. In addition, since external light attenuates during the time from incidence on the liquid crystal to return from the reflector, a bright display is basically difficult.
Therefore, an internal reflection system reflective liquid crystal device has recently been developed, in which a display electrode formed on a substrate located at the side opposite to the external light incidence side is also used as a reflector to bring the reflection position near a liquid crystal layer. More specifically, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-114799 discloses the technique of forming a pixel electrode used as a reflector on a substrate.
On the other hand, a transflective liquid crystal device utilizes external light for visualizing a display, and thus a display cannot be read in a dark place. Therefore, a transflective liquid crystal display device is proposed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 57-049271 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-292413, in which like the conventional reflective liquid crystal device, external light is utilized in a light place, while an internal light source is used for visualizing a display in a dark place.
However, in these liquid crystal devices, the transflective plate, the back light, etc. are arranged on the outer plane of the liquid crystal panel on the side opposite to the observation side, and a transparent substrate is interposed between the liquid crystal layer and the transflective plate, thereby causing double exposure, blurring in display, or the like. Furthermore, a combination with a color filter produces double exposure, blurring in display, or the like due to parallax to cause the problem of failing to obtain sufficient coloring. Therefore, a transflective liquid crystal device is proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-318929, in which a pixel electrode serving as a transflective film is provided on the inner surface of a liquid crystal cell.